Chapter 456

“Well, that’s a face only a mother could love.” Axel42’s comment was met with a grunt, as the Summoner was immediately elbowed by his companion, FlashFyre, aka, Fel. “I mean, nice to meet you two.”

“Don’t mention it.” James said, trying hard to keep his voice relatively neutral. It was risky, but he’d decided to reach out to Fel about the developer situation. Considering she was in the know for pretty much everything about James’s existence, it seemed safe. He’d also cleared it with Steve first. The developer had sent a quick okay, before commenting something about James and Rue needing to hurry up and catch up. Steve was already in the 50s, somehow. If James had to guess, that cheeky spanker had a group power leveling him.

“Still, I was surprised that Fel knew someone on the developer team.” Axel42, who was really Alex, said. His avatar looked almost exactly how he did in real life, minus the addition of the demonic swirling tattoos from his Devilkin race, as well as the silver hair, and slightly darker skin tone.

“I was a senior when she was a freshman.” Rue began instantly, continuing the lie they’d fabricated. “Still, we had some good times, and I figured I’d try to reach out to her, now that we got the greenlight to interact with players.”

“Rue here,” Fel filled in, “introduced me to a lot of promising developers and programmers on campus. She’s also one of those…connected types. She knows a lot of people, if you catch my drift.”

“Oh, lucky you.” Alex said, whistling lightly. “Know anyone rich and famous I’ve heard of?”

“Plenty.” Rue said with a sly laugh. “But I’m not telling you any of them.”

Alex let out a sigh but shrugged. “Worth a shot.” He made a movement with his hands, and a moment later, a brown bottle was in his hand. Fireball whiskey. The player standing before James was actually the whole reason Fireball whiskey had taken off in his dungeon. Alex and Fel had been instrumental, apparently, in spreading both the liquor, and helping Alex’s family establish the Dicken Shack, within DCO. Which also meant, they’d earned A LOT of coin in game. Wealth wise, James had to bet they were in the top 100 players.

“Pre dungeon drinks anyone?” Alex tipped back the bottle and took a drink. “If you’ve never had this stuff, it’s amazing.” He passed the bottle off to Fel, who also took a long drink. “Though, fair warning, it packs a fiery punch.”

Fel finished, and handed the drink to Rue, who immediately took a rather large portion of the drink. James could smell the cinnamon practically burning off of her as she held the bottle out to him. He took a small, modest sip, due in part, to his strange mouth on his Archon avatar, and also, because he needed to stay mostly sober. Considering the risk, he was running playing DCO with the players, he figured it best to be cautious.

“Thanks for that.” James said as he handed the bottle back to Alex. “And I appreciate the two of you responding to my colleague’s request. We’ve been eager to dive into the dungeon, but I felt odd asking random players to take us through…” James trailed off. Most of that was the truth. He’d played a few games before where developers and such were allowed in with players. Most of the time, that resulted in players just begging the developer characters for extra items or secrets. Or, players insulting the actual developers for not being as good as the players were, in some extreme cases.

However, running through with Fel and Alex, seemed like a safe plan early on. Not only would it ensure they were with people they could trust, even if Alex wasn’t in the know, it also meant other players could see James and Rue’s developer avatars, and start to get used to their presence. Ideally, after a run or two, they would begin branching out, and interacting with others.

That was, of course, part of the plan. The other part was still to rush to the fifth floor, to ensure they got their teleportation checkpoint for siege. James had sent Steve the heads up about those events, and he had no doubt the crafty developer would make sure he was on the fifth floor for the siege debut. Till then, James honestly doubted if he’d see the little halfling spanker running about.

“Normally, I’d protest, honestly.” Alex said with a shrug. “But I can’t turn down a request from Fel. She’s my weakness ya know.” He winked at James. “If she asked me to jump off a cliff, I’d do it.”

“You can fly, idiot.” Fel said with a chuckle. “But the sentiment is appreciated.” Alex didn’t see it, but James saw the momentary shadow that crossed Fel’s face. He couldn’t help but think back to the threat Fel’s mother had mentioned. Alex had no idea; his very life was in Fel’s hands. Poor guy.

“Yeah yeah.” Alex wrapped a hand lovingly around Fel’s waist, pulling the angelkin necromancer closer to him. She in turn snaked a hand into his silvery hair and tugged, gently, causing Alex to stumble backwards slightly, eliciting laughter in the group.

“Enough flirting and introductions.” Fel said as he regained his footing. “We’re wasting daylight, and the dungeon isn’t going to clear itself.” She turned a sly eye towards James. “I’ve heard rumors about the dungeon getting stronger again. Know anything about that?”

“If I did.” James said coyly. “I wouldn’t be able to tell you.”

She mock pouted, though her eyes were filled with amusement. “Can’t blame a girl for trying.”

“Oh, speaking of the dungeon,” Rue took the moment to chime in, “we were hoping to make it to the fifth floor, sooner rather than later.” She glanced at the party around her, eyes shining mischievously. “I heard a rumor there are some amazing hot springs there.”

At the mention of the hot springs, Alex perked up. “They’re freaking amazing. Really. Did you ever get to Aspen out in the real world? Think of that, but better. And the little painguin butlers are freaking awesome. Plus…” he trailed off, his eyes lingering above James’s head. “I don’t think we can carry you guys there though.”

“Not alone at least.” Fel added. “We had to get carried to the fifth floor ourselves, actually.” James knew that already, as did Rue. However, for purposes of their deception, this was all important. They needed to keep Alex from being suspicious… of anything.

“If we had a tank, we probably could do it.” Fel commented. “After all, assuming Nyx there has a summon, that’s three pet classes in the party, and a healer. With a proper tank, and our summons focused on DPS, it’s probably doable. Especially if we rush the bone fort for the portal to the fifth floor on the fourth.”

At that, Alex let out a long, drawn-out groan. “Are you really suggesting we invite him?”

Fel shrugged. “Keeping the party small works the best if we’re leveling them up as well. And, you know if we get this out of the way now, we can ignore him the rest of immersion.”

Alex nodded, reluctantly, while Rue and James shared a look. What was going on?

“He’s in town.” Alex sighed and made a motion towards the dungeon entrance. “You guys want to just meet me there? I’ll go get him.”

“You could just message him.” Fel said simply.

“I could…” Alex responded, his face breaking into a small grin, “but then I’d have to unmute his messages.”

“You’re an asshole to your brother, you know that.” Fel said with a chuckle. “Hurry up, you know I don’t like being kept waiting.” She winked at Alex, and then turned towards the dungeon entrance, glancing back past her fiery hair as she did.

“Come on Rue. Let’s catch up as we walk.”